If I Were Leader
by kaileytmarie
Summary: Megatron reflects on his history with Starscream. Old oneshot. Sort of G1/Prime crossover. Takes place during episode Evolution.


Megatron remembered his history with Starscream very well.  
From the day they first met he had worked to keep their relationship under control. Starscream was cunning. Possibly too cunning. At first he was timid. He was young, unsure of himself, but Megatron saw something in the silver mech's optics that intrigued him. He was smart. A genius, in his own way.  
Megatron sought to recruit the little seeker. He started working with the Decepticon scientists, locating and retrieving energon. Megatron soon saw leadership skills in him and gave him his own armada.  
Starscream worked hard to earn the respect of his superiors and did whatever he could to attract the attention of his leader. How could he know that Megatron had been observing him from day one? Yes, he stroked the shy Starscream's ego and praised him for every victory, even those of little importance. He encouraged the seeker to rise above his fellow soldiers and become what was his full potential. And that is exactly what Starscream did. His craft, his cunning, his mind; he used his wit and his gift with words to weasel his way through the ranks.  
Finally the day came that Megatron considered Starscream for the position of first lieutenant. He was quite pleased with how his little seeker had turned out. He was fearless. He jumped into whatever battle was thrown at him. He outsmarted and bested Cybertronians three times his size. He convinced Autobots to turn to the Decepticon cause.  
He was brilliant. And he knew it.  
Something had happened to Megatron's meek lackey. He became bold. Challenging his superiors at every turn. He even convinced Soundwave to defy direct orders once. True, the outcome was greater than originally expected, but Megatron now realized that little Starscream was getting farther and farther beyond his control. He was becoming a threat.  
And so he appointed him as his second in command, ordering Soundwave to closely monitor everything Starscream did. And he informed Starscream that he expected no less than perfection from him. Where victory had long earned him praise, failure would now earn punishment.  
Starscream understood and strove to hold an immaculate record in his master's sight. But something had changed. There was a look of treachery in the sly gleam of his optics. He had plotted against their enemies openly, but now he plotted secretly. Against who? Megatron guessed. And he grew angry.  
Then the day came when Starscream's brother were extinguished in battle. Starscream went on a rampage, obliterating whatever and whoever got in his way, Autobot and Decepticon.  
And Megatron had been in his sights.  
He plowed into the gladiator with such force that Megatron was sure he had been struck by a crashing war ship. Which seemed very nearly the case. He recovered and demanded an explanation from his second. It was then that he heard the words which had caused his strange obsession with the seeker. "If I were leader..."  
Megatron unleashed his full fury on the slender mech. Starscream managed to dodge most attacks, slashing with his talons whenever he found the chance. Megatron returned fire and threw himself at the seeker. Finally, he managed to catch hold of the second's wing and pummel him into submission.  
The Decepticon leader then realized that brute force alone would not be enough to dissuade the insane little flier from rebellion. He would have to use every form of deception he could conjure to turn this fierce warrior into his personal puppet. He commanded all Decepticons in high rank to respect the seeker as first lieutenant, but also to subtly undermine unofficial commands in order to make the mech believe he was not as smart as he thought.  
Soundwave would record every failure and blow it beyond proportion if he could and Megatron would use whatever he could find for the demolition of his little lackey's ego. He would set up Starscream to fail and then punish him severely, telling him how useless he was. He would learn of every threat before his second so that whenever he was informed he could treat it as old news. He would overreact to snide remarks, point out every flaw, threaten, verbally abuse and humiliate the seeker in front of his own armada.  
Starscream, the tiny mech with the annoyingly clever mind and lightning reflexes, would be reduced to a cowering doormat. And his plan had almost worked. He had certainly become a coward, but, if not carefully handled, his pride would easily get out of hand. If Megatron allowed himself to be pleased with the seeker for too long, he would find his stooge plotting his decimation.  
Megatron took some joy in thrashing his efforts and grinding his ego to a powder. He found Starscream's failures somewhat amusing, but he had also considered (and attempted) killing his lieutenant of multiple occasions.  
However, as he listened to the deception Starscream had concocted on this spur of the moment to eradicate the Predacon, he remembered why he continually put up with his little lieutenant. He was a genius! Megatron never ceased to be amazed by the detailed schemes cowardly Starscream could come up with. Had they been having this conversation a few eons ago, on Cybertron, he would have smothered the timid seeker in words of pleasure and praise and encouraged him once more to rise above those around him, but that Starscream was not this Starscream. This was a treacherous weakling who would receive no more that a nod of recognition from his leader. No, Megatron had worked too hard and for too long to get the seeker to where he was now, which was still quite unstable. The only thing to fuel his pride would be found in himself.  
He had been given more chances of redemption than any other Decepticon in history. He was a defiant little wretch who had been saved far too many times. And even though Starscream was capable of being far more useful than he typically was, Megatron chose to keep their relationship as it was. Master and replaceable slave.  
Why? Perhaps, if he was truly honest with himself, it was because Megatron feared Starscream. Perhaps it was because he knew that if the seeker were allowed to be all he could be, he would either be Megatron's greatest ally or most hated enemy. Maybe it was for the sake of the pleasure it brought the war lord to pound such a sniveling coward, knowing that he would be able to take it, recover and repeat the process all over again.  
But Megatron knew that the truth of the matter was that he would always cut Starscream down, force him to his knees, because in the glance he had thrown his leader, Megatron saw a flicker of cunning. The same cunning that once burned in the optics of the enraged seeker who had said, "If I were leader..."


End file.
